The U.S. government will help Vietnam respond to severe drought and saltwater intrusion by providing a disaster relief grant, USAID announced on April 8. The natural disaster has impacted the lives of hundreds of thousands of people in Vietnam’s southern provinces and Central Highlands.

U.S. Ambassador Ted Osius declared the situation as a disaster on March 25, prompting the U.S. to provide assistance to Vietnam through the Vietnam Red Cross. Assistance efforts will continue with the announcement of this relief grant.

Vietnam’s Mekong Delta is the country’s largest rice, fruit and fisheries producer. However, the current drought and saltwater intrusion the delta is facing is the worst in 90 years. Since the end of 2015, this natural disaster has also impacted all provinces in the Southern Central and Central highland regions, as 39 provinces have requested support from central government. Roughly 1.75 million people have been affected.

According to a report from Vietnam’s National Steering Committee for Natural Disaster Prevention and Control, a large number of households are experiencing water shortage from the drought. Schools, health care stations, hotels and factories are also experiencing water shortages.

“With this assistance, VNCR will provide safe drinking water and water storage containers to those most affected and will carry out promotional activities to enhance the awareness of sanitation and hygiene,” Consul General Rena Bitter said, according to a USAID article.

USAID-supported disaster relief efforts directly support and are closely coordinated with the Government of Vietnam’s relief efforts. USAID has also provided the country approximately $12 million in disaster relief response, preparedness and risk reduction assistance since 2002.

On April 16, 2016, a 7.8 magnitude earthquake in Ecuador left many citizens displaced and without access to clean water.

According to The New York Times, at least 410 people died and over 2,000 were injured. As more long-term solutions are being sought and developed, temporary relief efforts are being made by international organizations and local communities alike.

The United Nations refugee agency sent supplies to help those displaced by the earthquake in Ecuador. The first supply plane was loaded in Copenhagen, with 900 tents, 15,000 sleeping mats, kitchen utensils and, with the threat of the Zika virus still looming, 18,000 repellent-soaked mosquito nets.

“The aim is to provide essential shelter and other aid material over the next days for some 40,000 people…in earthquake-affected communities,” the organization said in a statement, just after the natural disaster took place.

Soon after the disaster, UNICEF delivered 20,000 water purification tablets to the survivors of the earthquake. Water contamination after an earthquake greatly increases the rate at which diseases and illnesses spread.

Of note, stagnant water increases the number of breeding sites for mosquitoes. This means that the Zika virus and dengue fever, another mosquito-borne virus, pose immediate threats to Ecuador.

Portoviejo, the provincial capital of Manabi Province, was one of the cities that was affected the most by the earthquake. The city, with a population of 300,000, has a death toll of approximately 100 and 370 buildings were destroyed. With no homes to go back to, many are sleeping on the streets.

“Clean water is one of the biggest needs. People have made signs everywhere asking for water,” said Lucy Harman, CARE Emergency Team Leader. CARE is a humanitarian organization that provides disaster relief and fights poverty across the globe.

“Everything is destroyed, so everyone is sleeping outside in makeshift shelters and the smell of death permeates the air,” Harman reported from Jama, another one of the areas hardest hit by the earthquake. According to a report by Reuters, CARE is also distributing temporary water tanks as well as purification tablets.

The World Food Programme (WFP) is the world’s largest hunger-fighting agency, feeding more than 80 million people living in approximately 80 countries. A new fund aims to fight hunger while reducing disaster risk, particularly for disasters resulting from climate change. The FoodSecure Initiative serves as a proactive measure to fight hunger and reduce the impact of an increase in climate change.

With the Paris talks for climate change occurring this December and the recent passage of the Sustainable Development Goals (SDGs), there has been more attention focused on the impact of climate change on livelihood. People living in low-lying areas, such as the Mekong Delta region in Southeast Asia, areas of India and Bangladesh and the Nile Delta region are at the greatest risk for displacement as a result of rising sea levels.

As sea levels rise, individuals will be displaced, and so it is more imperative than ever that agencies, nations and international bodies prepare. Furthermore, climate change will also affect crop yields, water quality and rates of infectious disease. This will affect the progress development organizations have made in these areas and organizations will have to face a new set of circumstances.

The World Food Programme’s initiative is a collaboration between the WFP, the German Red Cross and the International Foundation of the Red Cross and Red Crescent Societies (IFRC). The fund hopes to implement programs that stop the chronic disaster-relief-disaster-relief cycle. WFP’s FoodSecure Initiative is a multi-year fund that is disaster-forecast based. Thus, funds will be released before disasters actually occur. Using a forecast-based system is cost-effective and reduces the negative impact disasters cause in vulnerable communities.

By utilizing a forecast-based system and addressing disaster relief before, during, and after the fact, the WFP hopes to instill long-term resilience in communities. It follows a three-window implementation plan in order to maximize its impact.

The FoodSecure Initiative has already completed several pilot projects in developing nations. These projects include the distribution of flood preparedness kits before flooding, training of farmers to grow drought-resistant crops and promotion of soil and water conservation in agriculture.

In order to give this fund its maximum impact, the WFP estimates that it will cost $400 million. Presently, the WFP uses 40 percent of its funds for building resiliency but this will not be enough as climate change worsens. As the FoodSecure Initiative works to obtain full funding, it has already begun projects in five countries: the Philippines, Niger, Sudan, Guatemala and Zimbabwe. Hopefully, the FoodSecure Initiative will get the funding it needs to make a difference for years to come.

Fear has been renewed over El Niño, a climate event that is known to generate disastrous impacts.

The United Nations and the World Health Organization (WHO) are scrambling to coordinate with regional offices to discuss disaster preparedness strategies for the upcoming El Niño season.

According to National Geographic, El Niño “is a climate pattern that occurs when the surface waters of the Pacific Ocean become unusually warm.” The warming trend is caused by “weakened trade winds” that allow for warm water to displace cool water that is otherwise normally found in the Eastern Pacific Ocean.

El Niño is often characterized by torrential rain, as evidenced by Hurricane Patricia late last month. It is important to note that it is also associated with crippling droughts, such as what is occurring in Ethiopia.

One of the regions that are bracing for El Niño is found east of Australia in a chain of islands know as the Pacific Islands.

“These coming months have the potential to be the most testing period in the history of the Pacific Islands,” said Magareta Wahlström, head of the U.N. Office for Disaster Risk Reduction (UNISDR).

According to the U.N. Office for the Coordination of Humanitarian Affairs (OCHA), approximately 4.5 million people across 11 countries are under El Niño watch.

The effects of the climate pattern are far reaching. It can have calamitous affects, resulting in destroyed infrastructure and human displacement. Because El Niño occurs near impoverished geographic locations, the need for preparation is imperative.

“The El Niño phenomenon is a major concern to global public health as it has the potential to exacerbate health risks associated with extreme weather in different parts of the world,” stated a WHO status report issued recently on Health Preparedness for El Niño Event 2015-2016.

The two agencies are working directly with the Ministries of Health, providing advice on risk management as well as constructing contingency plans. Additionally, they are looking at the best ways to rebuild after disaster occurs.

While the U.N. and WHO are collaborating with regional offices, they are also operating at an international level, finding solutions to improve emergency response as well as raising awareness on the issue.

It’s commonly thought that the bigger the natural disaster, the greater the death and destruction, but that’s hardly the case. The 2010 Haiti earthquake that killed 160,000 people registered at 7.0 while the Japan earthquake that occurred a year later and registered at 9.0 killed only 15,893 people.

Why did the much larger quake have a significantly lower death toll? The answer is preparation. Japan is a rich, modernized country with advanced infrastructure and a stable economy.

It predicted and planned for the quake. Haiti was caught off guard and lacked sufficient medical supplies, shelter and clean water. The country’s poor infrastructure led to a mass collapse of buildings, trapping and injuring more people than a 7.0 earthquake would normally achieve.

How can countries around the world participate in global earthquake preparedness?

After Japan experienced its largest earthquake in 2011, known today as the Great East Japan Earthquake, it has taken great measures to make the country resilient to quakes. 90 percent of housing is earthquake resistant, and companies are encouraged to keep enough food and water onsite to sustain employees for at least three days.

Earthquakes are especially dangerous because they often trigger other natural disasters. Fires, floods, landslides and tsunamis are common earthquake side effects. Countries can minimize these risks by recognizing and avoiding faultlines, unstable terrain, highly flammable building materials and dangerously-fluctuating water levels.

“The world has already shown great progress in saving lives by improving weather forecasting, setting up early warning systems and organizing evacuations,” Ban Ki-Moon, UN Secretary-General, told the Yomiuri Shimbun.

Earthquake Preparedness for Rural Areas
The most devastating effect of earthquakes occurs when they strike under-developed rural areas. In the aftermath of disaster, victims are cut off from communication, water, medical attention and proper nutrition.

Water and Sanitation Kits, also known as WatSan-Kits, buy time for people in rural areas as they wait for emergency assistance. Depending on the type of WatSan-Kit, it may include basic hygiene, water tanks, water testing equipment, water purification units, latrine materials and a diesel pump.

One Kit can help as many as 10,000 people. The Red Cross and Red Crescent Movement train countries to use WatSan-Kits.

Communication
A key factor in global earthquake preparedness is effective and thorough communication between emergency personnel and affected areas. Because organizations are usually more prepared and knowledgeable than the countries they’re helping, resentment and lack of understanding can severely impair progress.

Organizations should include their host country in every step of the process and explain the ins and outs of the operation, suggests Earthzine.

Earthquake Preparedness at Home
Preparation can occur at even the most basic level. Families can create personal earthquake emergency plans, such as teaching children where to go in the event of a quake and maintaining a full-stocked food storage.

Clean water, especially, is a must-have. Great Shakeout Earthquake Drills, established around the world by the Southern California Earthquake Center, provide training on earthquake preparedness.

Funding for Earthquake Preparedness
Finally, proper funding is vital to global earthquake preparedness. Many countries are too poor to afford proper building materials and emergency supplies, making donations very appreciated. One donation to Red Cross or another nonprofit relief aide can make a family’s house earthquake-resilient.

The United Nations Children’s Fund (UNICEF) launched a $2.8 million appeal to help children affected by Typhoon Koppu which recently tore through the Philippines.

“Typhoon Koppu’s slow moving path includes mountainous and hard-to-reach areas, and we are concerned about the wellbeing of all affect children,” UNICEF Philippines Representative Lotta Sylwander said.

Days before Typhoon Koppu hit, UNICEF activated its emergency preparedness measures via its Disaster Risk Reduction (DRR) plan. The DRR is a systematic approach that assesses and reduces risk before, during and after a disaster.

UNICEF collaborated with the Philippine government in the pre-emptive evacuation plan which minimized casualties and property damage.

Mike Bruce, a spokesperson for Plan International, said the typhoon hit many poor communities that would struggle to rebuild their livelihoods without assistance.

“UNICEF’s first priority is to ensure children are safe and protected. Following a typhoon, children face risks from contaminated water sources, lack of food, epidemics such as cholera, hypothermia, diarrhea and pneumonia,” said Sylwander.

Save the Children estimates that 4.5 million children could be affected. In addition to restoring a safe water supply for families in the evacuation centers, UNICEF will include nutritional aid for breastfeeding mothers.

Typhoon Koppu caused floods, landslides, power outages and damaged roads and bridges, consequently isolating several towns and villages. However, the Philippines disaster agency said they have evacuated more than 65,000 people from low-lying and landslide-prone areas.

“Secondly, we must ensure that the rhythm of children’s lives are restored and that they get back to school as soon as possible,” continued Sylwander.

DRR is also working in collaboration with Save the Children, Plan, World Vision and the Institute for Development Studies to ensure that policies recognize child safety.

Save the Children’s Country Director in the Philippines, Ned Olney, said, “From our own experience responding to other storms in the Philippines we know that children are always the most vulnerable in a disaster, in the coming days we will determine what support they will need.”

Many poor communities were destroyed many typhoon victims are attempting to return to their villages to salvage as much as possible.

UNICEF will conduct an assessment of the destruction of banana, coconut, rice and corn plantations in the most affected areas to estimate the extent of the needs of the typhoon victims. The assessment will also determine the damage done to education facilities and what will be needed to restore them as soon as possible.

Here in the U.S. when disasters are predicted and do strike, such as natural disasters and droughts, the government prepares and provides aid to people who need it.

Many villages and communities in developing countries do not have backup plans when it comes to shelter, food and money if economical, natural or health shocks should occur. In addition, with the increase of changing climate, villages are in need of training to adapt as the world around them changes.

A non-resilient village experiencing drought would most likely react as follows: less rain means fewer, if any, crops, which in turn makes it difficult to feed livestock such as cows.

Underfed cows will produce less milk and families may be forced to sell livestock and eat less. This causes malnutrition as well as illness to become more common, further weakening the resilience of an already ill-prepared village.

Another shock that a non-resilient village is not prepared for would be the breaking of a water pump. No one in the village knows how to maintain, fix or buy new parts for the pump.

Women and young girls are now forced to walk many miles a day to retrieve water, usually unsanitary, for the village to survive on. The results of this are not only diarrheal diseases which will cause malnutrition, but an increase in the possibility of attacks and rape on the women and girls.

Take the same two scenarios from above and re-imagine them with villages that have received resilience training.

When a drought is occurring in a resilient village, farmers will use their training, specific to their villages, to begin implementing practices to help. These practices could include planting crops in pits so that they receive rainwater run-off or planting trees to protect the soil.

There will be emergency stores of animal food and grain, and mothers understand that breastfeeding during normal and difficult times can help protect their babies against malnutrition.

When a water pump breaks in a resilient village the group placed in charge of its upkeep when it was installed will pull on specific funds saved for this occurrence. This team of villagers will be knowledgeable about the pump.

So, they will be able to find the problems and report and buy the parts needed for the repair. There will be no need to sacrifice women and children’s active roles in society, including a proper education.

These scenarios and others, put forth by Concern Worldwide, show both visually and textually the reality and the difference between a resilient and non-resilient village.

It is important that villages be taught emergency and preventative measures as well as how to adapt to a changing environment and different situations in order to ensure their survival and independence.

Mobile phone technology is sweeping across Africa in the rapid, all-encompassing style of a pandemic. However, mobile phone usage and the supporting networks actually offer a solution to treating disease and other disasters.

Using Open Data Kit (ODK), a set of free, open-source tools organizations can use to author, field and manage mobile data collection, the Tanzania Red Cross Society has been able to facilitate data collection through phones.

Red Cross volunteers are able to upload surveys to their mobile phones that they then use to interview beneficiaries of Red Cross relief efforts about the aid they received. After completing each survey, volunteers can remotely upload results to the server. From there, the collected data is analyzed, allowing Red Cross officials to determine the effectiveness of various emergency relief efforts.

Kibari Ramadhan Tawakal, disaster management coordinator at Tanzania Red Cross Society, reports that Volunteers prefer the mobile platform, referencing how easy it is to use in comparison to pen and paper surveys.

“Using the mobile phones is exciting for them, and helps increase their confidence when interviewing beneficiaries. It also enables us to collect more consistent data,” Tawakal said.

It is true that recording and distributing data in the developing world can be a challenge. Without guarantees of a power source or specialized hardware and network access, information is not always current or reliable.

Created by researchers at the University of Washington, ODK was designed to offer an accessible solution to data collection in developing nations.

Cellular service is uniquely reliable even in the developing world. This enables data to be sent and analyzed in real time. Mobile phones also contain cameras and GPS units, which ease data collection, and are capable of establishing USB and WiFi connections to desktop computers. Smartphone cameras additionally function as a tool for reading barcode information.

With telecom companies investing millions in rural mobile networks, cell phones are accessible even in the most remote areas of countries like Tanzania. The nation’s Communications Regulatory Authority reports that as of 2015 there are approximately 33 million mobile subscribers in the country.

For this reason, ODK software offers an extremely promising solution to data collection challenges. With dependable real-time information about the appropriateness of disaster relief efforts, Red Cross officials will be able to quickly make informed decisions with regards to future aid.

Improved data collection may also feed directly into Red Cross efforts regarding HIV/AIDS. As a part of their project in Tanzania, the organization cites improving knowledge about HIV at a community level and reaching 35,000 people “through community-based educational activities that focus on preventing HIV and reducing the stigma and discrimination associated with this disease.”

Having accurate, region-specific information about HIV/AIDS can only help when it comes to community outreach.

The United Nations Office for Disaster Risk Reduction (UNISDR) calculates that 2.9 billion people have been affected by disasters between 2000 and 2012. According to UNISDR, 1.2 million were killed and $1.7 trillion in damages sustained. Natural disasters and other humanitarian emergencies are a profoundly influential part of the global human experience.

Unfortunately, recovery from disaster can be just as costly, both to governments supplying aid and victims of the disasters themselves. In the aftermath of floods, earthquakes, conflict and other emergencies, access to basic items needed for survival is severely limited and expensive. NGO Field Ready understands this struggle.

“In a humanitarian disaster, simple items can mean the difference between life and death,” the organization’s website explains.

However, the site goes on to state, “A bucket, for instance, essential for health and hygiene, may only cost a few dollars in a capital city but supply chains and support costs mean that in reality this simple item is expensive and can take weeks or even months to arrive in the hands of disaster victims.”

The good news? 3D printing technology may just be the solution. Field Ready specializes in using the technology to meet the needs of disaster victims and provide humanitarian relief.

Following the 2010 earthquake that devastated Haiti, Field Ready worked with other relief organizations to print products like mosquito-net closures and tools for aid workers, TB patients, newborn babies and maternal care. The organization’s efforts established safer patient areas and workspaces, as well as reducing the risk of mosquito-borne disease.

During their first stint in Haiti, Field Ready’s members were especially struck by the shortage of maternal health equipment. Although nurses and doctors could sometimes improvise makeshift tools such as clamps for newborn children’s umbilical cords, Field Ready sought a better solution.

They were able to print clamps on 3D printing presses, reducing the risk of neonatal umbilical sepsis. Field Ready also trained Haitian staff to use 3D presses to ensure that they would have a permanent alternative to importing costly equipment from more developed areas at additional expense. Instead, health workers are now able to print parts and tools when needed.

Field Ready also printed a prototype for a prosthetic hand, assembled from only five parts, and proved the capacity for 3D presses to produce items needed to maintain and improve the printers themselves.

In total, Field Ready’s efforts in Haiti assisted a dozen aid workers and 60 medical patients. The organization has since set its sights on improving conditions in Nepal.

“In the coming weeks, an assessment will be carried out to determine how Field Ready can best contribute to medium and long-term recovery and reconstruction efforts,” the organization promised.

These efforts, they believe, will likely focus on repair and capacity building, with an eye to help the Nepalese spearhead their own recovery and development.

“Even in crisis situations, people need more than just ‘stuff’ […] they need the skills and knowledge that will empower them to look after themselves and those around them,” the organization asserts.

Field Ready seeks to give disaster victims that tool for empowerment through technology. Through training disaster survivors in developing areas, the organization is able to leave a lasting impact. Trainees learn skills they can use to generate income and continue to develop solutions to supply issues facing marginalized regions.

Field Ready has an eye to expand, with the goal of a worldwide network of 3D printing technicians and kit designers. Linked by the Internet, this network would have the potential to share designs and solutions instantaneously on a global scale.

One of the largest and most difficult tasks that aid workers face in disaster relief is finding those affected shelters. When disaster strikes, it either forces people out of their homes or reduces residences to piles of rubble. As for the governments of the affected regions, there exists the enormously expensive logistical challenge of clean up. Structural debris and rubble are the largest solid polluter by volume. One Dutch company may have found a single solution to both of these problems.

The Mobile Factory is, as the name suggests, a compact, and portable concrete production facility. It fits into two standard size shipping containers, and can be sent anywhere in the world with relative ease. It is solar powered as well, and thus can be operated in areas with limited or damaged power grids.

Rubble is fed into the factory and it emerges as liquid concrete. This is only the first step. The concrete is then taken and molded into standardized bricks, called Q-Brixx, that resemble large Lego bricks.

Mobile Factory has pledged to instruct users in how to use the life size lego bricks to build, modestly sized, earthquake-proof shelters. The device allows communities to safely and affordably rebuild, while also removing environmentally and physically hazardous debris.

Mobile Factory is currently being tested on a small scale in Haiti. The 2010 earthquake left 1.3 million Haitians without a home and many of its towns decimated. The Mobile Factory is testing its product where it might be needed most.

The test village is being conducted in a town of 30 families. In addition to receiving Mobile Factory homes, the families are also being instructed in the factory’s operation and how to build the homes. Mobile Factory hopes that this instructional program will empower communities to teach each other how to rebuild.